AUDIO OUTPUT DEVICE AND AUDIO OUTPUT METHOD

• US 20130170655A1
• Filed: 09/27/2011
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Original Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
• Inventors: Saito, Kosuke, Satoyoshi, Kazuhiro
• Application Number:
  US13/822,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20130170655A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/56
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/002 Devices for damping, suppressing, obstructing or conducting sound in acoustic devices G10K1/06 - G10K1/10 take precedence; for electro-mechanical transducers for communication H04R3/002
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/1754 Speech masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/12 for acoustic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/34 involving multiple cooperating jammers
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/43 characterized by the control of the jamming power, signal-to-noise ratio or geographic coverage area
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/45 characterized by including monitoring of the target or target signal, e.g. in reactive jammers or follower jammers for example by means of an alternation of jamming phases and monitoring phases, called "look-through mode"
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/825 by jamming
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/84 related to preventing electromagnetic interference in petrol station, hospital, plane or cinema
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/403 loud-speakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/406 microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/11 Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field H04S2420/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/15 Aspects of sound capture and related signal processing for recording or reproduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/30 Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/303 Tracking of listener position or orientation

Abstract

A audio output device includes: a speaker position detecting unit which detects the position of a speaker; a masking sound producing section which produces a masking sound; a plurality of loudspeakers which output the masking sound; and a localization controlling section which controls a localization position of the masking sound based on the speaker position detected by the speaker position detecting unit, and which supplies a sound signal relating to the masking sound to at least one of the plurality of loudspeakers.

Claims

1. An audio output device comprising:

a speaker position detecting section adapted to detect a position of a speaker;

a masking sound producing section adapted to produce a masking sound;

a plurality of loudspeakers adapted to output the masking sound; and

a localization controlling section adapted to control a localization position of the masking sound based on the speaker position detected by the speaker position detecting section, and supply a sound signal relating to the masking sound to at least one of the plurality of loudspeakers.

2. The audio output device according to claim 1, wherein the localization controlling section sets the localization position of the masking sound to the speaker position detected by the speaker position detecting section.

3. The audio output device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a microphone array in which a plurality of microphones that pick up a sound are arranged,

wherein the speaker position detecting section detects the speaker position based on a phase difference of sounds picked up by the plurality of microphones.

4. The audio output device according to claim 1, wherein the masking sound producing section sets a level of the masking sound to a high level in a case where the speaker position detected by the speaker position detecting section is changed.

5. The audio output device according to claim 1, wherein the speaker position detecting section sets a position of a microphone in which a volume level of a picked-up sound is highest, as the speaker position;

and

wherein the localization controlling section supplies the sound signal relating to the masking sound, to a loudspeaker that is closest to the microphone in which the volume level of the picked-up sound is highest.

6. An audio output device comprising:

a plurality of microphones adapted to pick up a sound;

a masking sound producing section adapted to produce a masking sound;

a plurality of loudspeakers to which a sound signal relating to the masking sound is supplied, and adapted to emit the masking sound; and

a localization controlling section adapted to control a gain of the sound signal relating to the masking sound to be supplied to the plurality of loudspeakers,

wherein the localization controlling section multiplies levels of picked-up sound signals of the plurality of microphones with a gain setting coefficient having a value which becomes smaller as distances between the plurality of microphones and the plurality of loudspeakers are larger, to adjust the gain of the sound signal relating to the masking sound to be supplied to the plurality of loudspeakers.

7. An audio output method comprising the steps of:

detecting a position of a speaker;

producing a masking sound;

outputting the masking sound from at least one of a plurality of loudspeakers; and

controlling a localization position of a virtual sound source of the masking sound so that a position of the virtual sound source is placed at or in a vicinity of the speaker position detected in the speaker position detecting step, and supplying a sound signal relating to the masking sound to at least one of the plurality of loudspeakers.

8. The audio output method according to claim 7, wherein in the localization controlling step, the localization position of the masking sound is se to the speaker position detected in the speaker position detecting step.

9. The audio output method according to claim 7, further comprising:

a step of picking up a sound by a microphone array in which a plurality of microphones are arranged,

wherein in the speaker position detecting step, the speaker position is detected based on a phase difference of sounds picked up by the plurality of microphones.

10. The audio output method according to claim 7, wherein, in a case where the speaker position detected in the speaker position detecting step is changed, in the masking sound producing step, a level of the masking sound is set to a high level.

11. The audio output method according to claim 7, wherein in the speaker position detecting step, a position of a microphone in which a volume level of a picked-up sound is highest is set as the speaker position;

and

wherein in the localization controlling step, the sound signal relating to the masking sound is supplied to a loudspeaker that is closest to the microphone in which the volume level of the picked-up sound is highest.

12. An audio output method comprising the steps of:

picking up a sound by a plurality of microphones;

producing a masking sound;

supplying a sound signal relating to the masking sound to a plurality of loudspeakers, and emitting the masking sound by the plurality of loudspeakers; and

controlling a gain of the sound signal relating to the masking sound which is to be supplied to the plurality of loudspeakers,

wherein in the localization controlling step, levels of picked-up sound signals of the plurality of microphones are multiplied with a gain setting coefficient having a value which becomes smaller as a distance between the plurality of microphones and the plurality of loudspeakers is larger, to adjust the gain of the sound signal relating to the masking sound to be supplied to the plurality of loudspeakers.